The book of Joy
Category Archives: book
Book Review-project Hail Mary by Andy weir
Book Review – Musashi
Last Saturday morning I ran 8 kms in 55 minutes. Almost after 2 years.
What has running gotto do with Musashi? Well this audible book had me hooked.
My day will start with Musashi. I will sweep the floor while listening to the story of this young Samurai who is trying to gain enlightenment via the sword.
After sweeping the floor, I will go to run. My runs will be around 40+ minutes and look forward to listening more of Musashi. This improved my running form and I could run 8kms – just like good old days.
Hence the connection with running.
The story was riveting. How this young Samurai goes about learning and disciplining his mind. This is based on a famous Samurai – fictionalised a bit with a character called Otsu – a girl who follows him and waits for him.
I was researching on this guy – and he has distilled all his learning’s into a book – Book of Five Rings. It is in my reading list next. This book is considered to be at the level of the famous Art of War.
Other than the story aspect of it – the book made me think / or rather ask myself – what am I doing?
I am not a warrior or swordsman – but I am a coder by profession. Am I reaching perfection? Am I constantly learning new techniques? My skills are they being used for the betterment of humanity?
Probably these are for musing for another day.
I highly recommend Musashi. Will be a good journey.
Tools of Titans – Book Review and Actionable Items
I love Tim Ferris and his hacks. [ 4 Hour Work Week ]
In Tools of Titans he has put together a bunch of show notes from his podcast interviews. Very shoddy and all mixed up and very difficult to read because of the links he has provided all over the place [ How am I supposed to watch a YouTube video on Kindle? ]. This style might not be digestible for some.
Other than this little downside on the messy format – each and every chapter has some good take away or the other. Each of the celebrities [ from Startup, Tech, Media… name anything ] have a few habits which has made them successful and they have shared it in this book.
This book is like a Gold mine. Lot of actionable items.
Ok – here are some of the key take aways I am making it part of my daily routine.
1. Cold Showers. After an intense workout, the athletes sweat it out in a Steam Sauna, then they immediately plunge themselves into a bathtub filled with ice blocks. These are what an Olympic Athelete Trainer makes his athletes do for quick recovery. Well at the least I can take a cold shower – which itself has tremendous benefits. The geyser in our bathroom has conked off – why fix it? Let me see if I can continue through the Bangalore Winter.
2. Meditation. 90% of the interviewees either do TM or Vipasana Meditation. Every time I came across this while reading the book, I started feeling guilty. I used to do Sudharshan Krista (SKY) once or twice a month – or whenever the top story gets clogged. I used this guilt as a fuel and since last 1 week from Monday thru Saturday I started doing SKY. I could see the results immediately – my resting heart beat went from an average of 74 to 72 and at times even saw 66 – all within a week. [ Measured with an Apple watch and it is damn accurate. In January I had compared the Apple watch reading real time with an ECG machine when I did the Treadmill test – so this is not just an apple fanboy’s assertion ]
3. Early to Rise. Obvious isn’t it. Wake up early and use the time to work on a hard problem or a creative pursuit or do meditation. Surya Namaskar ( 10 minutes ) + SKY ( 45 minutes ) + Sahaj Meditation ( 20 minutes ) with breaks in between takes close to 1.5 hours. Also I have now started running on alternate days. All these cost lot of Morning time.
The average wake up time for all these Titans is 4:45 AM. And it is a good sweet spot – not too early, and not too late to do the Meditation + Run. I now wake up between 4 and 5 AM – with no alarm. On the days I do both SKY + Run – my brain does not get tired at all – even when it turns 10 PM. I produce so much during the day that it is unreal.
4. Affirmation Journal. Dilbert’s Scott Adams – before he became the famous cartoonist + office politics satirist – once attended a Mensa Meeting. One of the participants with an IQ of 180+ told him – daily write your wish in a diary 15 times and watch it come true. Scott Adams thought if a 180+ IQ person is suggesting such a thing – it cannot be stupid. “What the heck – let me give it a shot”, he said to himself and suppressing his doubtful part of the brain – he started on an affirmation journal – by affirming daily that he will write a Bestseller. And lo and behold in 4 years his book became a bestseller. When he started writing this affirmation – he was still in the Corporate world – he had not even published a single cartoon. Could be part universe, or could be his own belief in himself. It worked.
There was another story on Spanx – a young lady who had a rough life, no huge credentials, college drop out – created a billion dollar company single handedly on her sheer belief by talking to the “Universe” and expecting the Universe to make things happen.
My Spiritual Writer Guru – Paula Coelho – in The Alchemist says this same thing – When you want something badly, the Universe will conspire to get it for you.
I have also heard similar things said by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Sadguru, Mata Nirmala Devi – on the existence of “Cosmic Energy” and how opening up your Kundalani Chakras allows one to link to this Cosmic Energy – and things start happening. Everything is inter connected – we do not live in isolation. Looking back at my life I have witnessed such things – how all the bowling pins align themselves into one column and fall so neatly one after the other like dominoes.
Yes, I believe in the “Universe” or the “Cosmic Energy” – and ready to be plugged into this – like Keanu Reaves into the Matrix!
I have now added Affirmation journal to my daily routine. Daily 15 times I write 2 affirmations – the contents will not share now – you will see the results in the coming years 🙂
5. Fasting. Every athlete, ultra marathoner fasts. Either they do an intense monthly fasting for a few days, or go into a weekly juice diet. Fasting is extremely beneficial. I am doing research on how to fast – as a vegetarian – for the upcoming 40 day Ramzan fast. I might take the plunge this year.
6. Writing Muscle. To do something well, you have to practise on it over and over and over. There were some good tips I picked up.
Write something, anything – 3 pages a day. Dont worry if it gets published or what the reader will say. Think you are writing to throw it away – so write whatever comes to your mind. So later in the day, when you are composing that difficult email to a customer or an employee – it just flows and you are not stuck.
The Writing muscle has to be trained and nurtured.
Create 3 sections – Ideas, Drafts, Publish – and keep moving posts from one bucket to another. Sometimes when creative energy is high – work on the Idea bucket and add as much as possible. When there is a lot of time – move a post from Idea bucket to Drafts bucket and bring the idea to life. When time is short or creative energy is less or waiting for a delayed meeting or want to switch context from an intense coding session – move a post from Draft to Publish and clean up the post to Publish. This way one is not stuck at the enormosity of the work that goes into publishing a blog post – but can keep working at it in chunks based on the energy level. Yet to implement it ( this very blog post I am doing all 3 at once ).
7. Becoming Strong. Forget the 6 pack or a flat stomach or a PopEye bicep. Focus on becoming Strong. Because that is what will help in old age – instead of being dependent on others. Now this is a good goal.
I sorely lack in this area. I only do aerobics now. Have to start adding Strength training to my routine.
If you pick up this book – your mileage will vary dependent on what you want to do with life. There is an entire section ( book has 3 sections – healthy, wealthy and wise ) devoted to becoming Wealthy. It is how these Titans do investments. Will revisit after I have some stash built.
So that’s all folks.
With some disciplined effort + working out smartly + some help from the Universe – anyone can become a Titan.
